Hughes denied parole

June 12, 2014

CRANSTONâ€”James Hughes, who killed North Kingstownâ€™s beloved Howard â€˜Zekeâ€™ Harris in 1982, will remain incarcerated for the next three years after the stateâ€™s parole board voted against a request for release. Hughes, who was sentenced to life in prison in November 1983, shocked the North Kingstown community when he murdered Harris, a patron and a friend to many, at his furniture store and robbing him of $70 for his drug addiction.